Symposium: Spatial Scale and Structural Heterogeneity in Skeletal Muscle Performance

Biological movement is an inherently dynamic system driven by a complex and multi-scaled, highly structured tissue: muscle. Classic muscle physiology has resulted in a wonderfully detailed understanding of muscle performance at very specific spatial levels and under narrow conditions. However, we understand far less about how the extensive heterogeneity of muscles across spatial scales contributes to performance under the more dynamic conditions relevant to animal movement.

Here we aim to bring together a new wave of muscle experiments, which seek to address the contributions of both spatial heterogeneity and local physical state across multiple scales to muscle performance. These experiments may call into question the long-held assumptions of muscle homogeneity spatially (e.g. along the length of single myofibrils or in the deformation of whole muscle against the constraints of connective tissue), in activation (e.g. in the selective recruitment of fibers of different sizes), or energetically (e.g. in the variability of work production during impulsively loaded terrestrial locomotion). We hope that by bringing together this collection of work, we will better understand both the physiologically performance of muscle and the micro-scale properties of actin and myosin interactions.

Sponsors: DCB & DVM
 

Organizers

• David Williams
• Natalie Holt

Speakers

S2-1 Thursday, Jan. 4, 08:00 HOLT, Natalie C*; WILLIAMS, C Dave:

Compliance shifts the length-tension relationship in skeletal muscle

S2-2 Thursday, Jan. 4, 08:30 POWERS, JD*; WILLIAMS, CD; DANIEL, TL:

Tuning titin stiffness to optimize striated muscle contraction efficiency

S2-3 Thursday, Jan. 4, 09:00 REGNIER, Michael*; SNIADECKI, Nathan J.:

Multi-scale platforms to study the structure and functional of cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells

S2-4 Thursday, Jan. 4, 09:30 NISHIKAWA, K:

Muscle function from molecule to organism

S2-5 Thursday, Jan. 4, 10:30 WAKELING, JM*; ROSS, SA; RYAN, D; DOMINGUEZ, S; NIGAM, N:

Size, history-dependent and dimensionality effects on muscle contraction

S2-6 Thursday, Jan. 4, 11:00 TIJS, C*; BERNABEI, M; MAAS, H:

Muscle Deformations Caused by Myofascial Loads

S2-7 Thursday, Jan. 4, 11:30 ENG, Carolyn M. *; AZIZI, Emanuel; ROBERTS, Thomas J.:

The battle of the bulge: structural determinants of muscle gearing during dynamic contractions

S2-8 Thursday, Jan. 4, 13:30 THOMPSON, Joseph T; TAYLOR-BURT, Kari R*; KIER, William M:

Structure and shape affect obliquely striated muscle function in soft-bodied invertebrates

S2-9 Thursday, Jan. 4, 14:00 AHN, A.N.*; KONOW, N.; TIJS, C.; BIEWENER, A.A.; AHN-ROS, Anna:

In vivo length changes in relation to intrinsic physiological properties in vertebrate skeletal muscles

S2-10 Thursday, Jan. 4, 14:30 SAWICKI, Gregory S.*; SPONBERG, Simon :

Perturbing the classical muscle work loop paradigm to unravel the neuromechanics of unsteady locomotion

S2-11 Thursday, Jan. 4, 15:00 :

Discussion

Complementary Session: Session 135